Tim Merlier wins Tour de France Stage 7; Max Kanter misses podium after bump on finishing straight

Maximum power transfer: On Friday, the sprinters pedaled hard at the Tour de France. Source: AP Photo/Thibault Camus

Sprinter Tim Merlier won the seventh stage of the Tour de France. Max Kanter finished as the best German in fourth place, missing out on a better result due to a bump on the finishing straight. He remains in a promising position in the points classification.

Max Kanter is competing for the green jersey at the Tour de France. The Brandenburg native has already collected 140 points after seven stages, placing him third, just 64 points behind leader Mads Pedersen.

A small bump may have cost the German another podium place on Friday. The debutant finished fourth in the prestigious sprint in Bordeaux, securing a good result in his second mass sprint as well. However, the 28-year-old was not satisfied.

"We were a bit too far back, we didn't really have any space. We were all together, but somehow the gap didn't open up properly," said the Brandenburg native after the victory of Belgian Tim Merlier at the end of the 175.1-kilometer seventh stage between Hagetmau and the wine metropolis.

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When Kanter had a clear path at top speed, Dorian Godon got in his way and threw Kanter off his rhythm. As a result, Sören Waerenskjold from Norway finished second, and Eritrean Biniam Girmay came third. Phil Bauhaus from Bocholt placed sixth.

"Finishing sixth is important for me," said Bauhaus. "Not just always saying you want to be in the top ten, but actually showing it."

Kanter First Boxed In, Then Blocked Out

On the long but relatively narrow finishing straight, Kanter was initially somewhat boxed in with his sprint train but then managed to move forward.

"Then I started at 400 meters. I knew it would be way too early, but it's better to somehow get a result than not be in it at all," explained Kanter.

For almost four kilometers after the curve at the Simone Veil bridge, it went straight toward the finish. The positional battles of the sprint trains had already begun before that.

Winner in Bordeaux: Tim Merlier won the sprint. Source: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

On Saturday, there is another flat stage between Périgueux and Bergerac, which seems tailor-made for a mass sprint.

"The mistakes we made today must not happen again," emphasized Kanter. "We have to manage to just do our lead-out so that we have a clear path, like on the first stage."

In Pau, the 28-year-old had finished second in the first mass sprint on Wednesday.

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The day after his impressive solo ride through the Pyrenees, Tadej Pogacar defended his yellow jersey without any problems. The Slovenian remains 2:42 minutes ahead of his perennial rival Jonas Vingegaard. Germany's hope Florian Lipowitz is seventh, four minutes behind.

Sprinter Teams Control the Race

Under oppressive heat of up to 36 degrees, the peloton rolled on mostly flat terrain toward the wine metropolis. Only one fourth-category climb was on the program. Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer tried his luck as a breakaway, as he did on the way to Pau, this time together with Czech Jakub Otruba.